Auction Catalogue

10 & 11 May 2017

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Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

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Lot

№ 87

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10 May 2017

Hammer Price:
£2,400

A Second War ‘Illustrious Blitz Submariner’s B.E.M. group of eight awarded to Chief Petty Officer J. A. Lisle, H.M.S. Triumph, Royal Navy, who was decorated for trying to rescue the crew of H.T. Essex during the all-out aerial attack on H.M.S. Illustrious and the surrounding Grand Harbour at Malta, 16 January 1941. He was later mentioned in despatches for his part in Lieutenant-Commander W. J. W. Woods ‘purple patch’ with the Triumph, including the sinking of the Italian submarine Salpa, off Mersah Matruh, in June 1941

British Empire Medal, (Military) G.VI.R., 1st issue (S.P.O. Joseph A. Lisle, C/KX. 81419. R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, M.I.D. Oak Leaf; Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Palestine 1945-48 (C/KX.81419 J. A. Lisle. (B.E.M.). C.P.O. S.M.R.N.) ‘R.N.’ added later; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 1st issue (KX.81419 J. Lisle. Ch. Sto. H.M.S. Phoebe.) light contact marks, generally very fine (8) £1400-1800

B.E.M. London Gazette 17 February 1942, in which he is jointly listed with Acting Stoker Petty Officer C. A. Sheldon and Chief Stoker W. H. Stockham:

‘For courage and enterprise in boarding a burning Merchantman.’

The recommendation states:

‘The submarine [H.M.S.
Triumph] was lying at Malta when a heavy air attack began. Bombs hit a merchant ship and set her ablaze. There was great danger of an explosion, since the ship was loaded with ammunition. Knowing this, officers of H.M.S. Triumph organised fire parties, in which Stockham, Lisle and Sheldon played a notable part. They subdued the outbreak after hours of strenuous work exposed to continual bombing, they rescued men trapped in the burning vessel, and by their courage and initiative, prevented what might well have been a disaster.’

M.I.D.
London Gazette 20 January 1942:

‘For courage, skill and resolution in successful submarine patrols.’

Joseph Allan Lisle was born in September 1913. He served during the Second War as a Stoker Petty Officer in the Royal Navy. His service included with the submarine H.M.S. Triumph (Commander W. J. W. Woods, RN.), and he was present when she sailed from Gibraltar with H.M.S. Upholder to Malta at the start of January 1941. The Triumph was enroute to join the 1st Submarine Flotilla at Alexandria, and on their way to Malta the two submarines were designated to provide cover for the western half of Operation Excess. This convoy, which also included the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Illustrious, had come under heavy attack enroute to Malta. The Illustrious, which had been ordered to provide air cover for the convoy, had received several hits prior to her arrival in the Grand Harbour at Malta. The Triumph arrived in Malta on 12 January 1941, just in time to coincide with a concerted Axis attempt to destroy the damaged Illustrious, which stayed in the Grand Harbour for vital repair work.

The stricken aircraft carrier was too good an opportunity to miss, and as such scores of aircraft carried out dive bomb attacks on the Grand Harbour, 16 - 19 January. On the first day of attacks both the
Illustrious and the H.T. Essex sustained bomb damage. In the case of the latter, she was hit in the engine room and severely damaged. Only four days after his arrival in Malta, Lisle found himself at the forefront of a fire party sent on board the Essex to rescue the crew, and secure the volatile cargo. The Essex was carrying guns, ammunition and torpedoes, miraculously none of which ignited in the flames.

Despite the best efforts of the
Triumph’s crew, the merchant vessel suffered 15 men killed and over 20 wounded as a result of the attack. On the night of 18/19 January, another aerial bombardment took place and military personnel had to be used to unload the Essex. The Maltese Stevedores, recognising the inherent danger, refused to unload the cargo. Three men of the Triumph were awarded the B.E.M. for their gallantry on the 16th, and Lieutenant (E) G. M. D. Wright, R.N. was bestowed with the M.B.E.

When H.M.S.
Illustrious successfully left Malta intact, Lisle returned to his primary function which was to assist with the interception of supply traffic to and from North Africa.

Operating in the Mediterranean, Lisle was mentioned in despatches for 5 war patrols carried out in H.M.S.
Triumph between February - July 1941. An early abortive mission was the proposed evacuation of paratroops from the west coast of Italy, during which she made the rendezvous but the paratroops were captured. The Fighting Tenth by J. Wingate, D.S.C. gives the following:

Triumph too was on clandestine work in April. After an operation involving paratroops under Major Pritchard of the Welch Fusiliers, and Lieutenant Deane-Drummond, the object of which was to attack a Sicilian aqueduct and thus interrupt the enemy’s water supply, the soldiers were to be picked up by submarine. Simpson detailed Triumph to go but her position was compromised... As it turned out, the paratroops had all been captured on their way to meet the submarine.’

Success followed when in May, ‘Chinks of brightness showed through the gloom. The submarines of Raw’s flotilla brought news of continuing success. Lieutenant-Commander W. J. W. Woods in
Triumph made a successful attack on a convoy [two 2,500 ton ships south of Messina]....

Lieutenant-Commander Woods led his
Triumph into a series of astonishing successes, which rate high in degree of skill and courage even in these days when our young commanders were excelling each other in their quite amazing exploits [he also sank a 250 ton Italian schooner off Benghazi in May 1941; and torpedoed a 3,500 ton armed merchant cruiser in Benghazi Harbour as well as sinking by gunfire a convoy of one 500 ton trawler escort and three 300 ton schooners]. (Submarine Victory by D. A. Thomas refers)

In June 1941 the
Triumph sank the Italian submarine Salpa off Mersa Matruh by surface gunfire and torpedo. The following month whilst on patrol she attacked and sank a 500 ton freighter being escorted by the Italian gunboat Dante De Lutti, which was then sunk in a surface action. Having sustained damage in the latter action she ‘limped’ to Malta for urgent repairs.

Lisle advanced to Chief Petty Officer, and served with H.M.S.
Phoebe to assist in the British withdrawal from post war Palestine in 1948. He died in Hammersmith in 1972.